Catalytic Love
by Spongecatdog
Summary: Accidents can make everything awkward and lead to tense moments between the involved parties. But then, sometimes accidents turn out wonderfully, and new possibilities are born. Even then, the chances of a spark igniting now and not so late in the future that what once was will never be aren't always very high. Good thing for Tom and Marco there are catalysts that speed up things.


**A/N: uahweujrf I'm really sorry for this being late ;~;**

 **I really didn't like the original that I had to rush to make to try and get it on time yesterday (I guess this is what happens when I don't know about a Week until its already halfway finished ヘ(´－｀;)ヘ ) And tbh, I'm glad I did, because I like this version a lot more than its predecessor. Anyways, please enjoy~!**

 **Prompt: First Kiss**

* * *

In all honesty, it was a complete accident. Marco didn't exactly expect that he was going to step outside and be fighting monsters again today. Okay, maybe that wasn't all true. Fighting Ludo and his minions were becoming a daily occurrence, strange as the thought may seem. Marco definitely didn't expect Tom to poof out of nowhere though. The moment he saw Tom in the middle of the fray, Marco's safety instincts had him moving towards Tom to pull him out of the fight before Marco's brain had caught up with him.

Sure, now that everything was over, Marco realized that Tom could have totally kicked any of the monster's butts and probably done a lot more damage than Marco could even hope to cause. Hindsight was 20/20 like that. At that moment though, Marco was focused on getting Tom out of there before he got hurt.

See, it would have been fine if it had just ended with Marci dragging out a confused Tom and then proceeding to freak out about it after the fight was finished. But as Marco has learned through his adventures with Star, nothing can ever be that simple.

So Marco should have seen the monster's outstretched leg, ready to trip him, and got around it. Instead, Marco fell over the leg. His insides tensed as Marco prepared for the inevitable fall. A few seconds later and Marco was still waiting for his face to meet the ground up close and personal. Marco's eyebrows pushed together as he slowly opened his eyelids that had closed at some point. Instead of seeing the grass or even a stray ladybug, two fiery red orbs met him. It was at that moment that Marco realized how hot his face was getting. Marco's tongue unconsciously poked out to run over his lip only to freeze when realization finally dawned on him.

Oh.

Well.

That would explain why his lips felt so warm.

Marco yanked himself away, the world around him coming back into focus. When he heard the joking wolf whistle in the background, Marco found out that his cheeks could in fact grow hotter than they already were. A sense of satisfaction filled Marco when he heard Star yell a spell at the monster, causing it to whimper and quieten down. Tom, as though pulled by Marco, rose as Marco fell back on the ground. They watched each other in silence, shock plain on both faces. The silence would probably have stretched on for much longer had it not been for Ludo yelling aggravatedly.

"Hurry up and say something already! Some of us don't have all the time in the world, you know."

Tom and Marco both turned to Ludo in a surprising show of unison. Ludo, however, remain unimpressed.

"Well? Are you two going to fight or kiss? Choose one already!"

Ludo was promptly shushed by a very invasive finger to the mouth courtesy of Star, who watched the two with a scrutinizing gaze. Even the monsters were watching with a silent intensity. Marco looked from Tom to Star to the monsters before his face erupted. Marco ran back to his house so quickly that he wouldn't be surprised if there was a cartoon dust cloud where he was standing.

Tom stood silently, watching the other run. A small part of him was amazed at how fast the other could run. His hand moved towards his lips, softly caressing them. Despite the fact the kiss had been minutes ago, Tom could have swore that his lips still felt Marco's warmth. It wasn't a burning hot like Tom's own but a more pleasant one that thrummed under his skin. It was...nice. Tom stared at the back door of Marco's home, distantly listening to the conversation happening between Star and Ludo in the background.

"Okay, well, this is going nowhere today. Do me a favor will ya? Tell me what happens next."

Star nodded her head absentmindedly while watching Tom still. She looked like she was waiting for a bomb to go off, and honesty Tom couldn't blame her for reacting like that. If it had been somebody else, Tom would have burned them alive on the spot for even daring to fall on him let alone accidentally kiss him. So why didn't he react like that with Marco? The question was beginning to bother him more than the actual incident. Star spoke suddenly, startling Tom.

"That was his first kiss, you know. I'm pretty sure he was planning on giving it to Jackie, but.." Her voice trailed off as she shrugged. Tom blinked as her words ran through his head. Numbly, Tom snapped his fingers and ignited a flame. A second later and he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Star watched the spot where he left, her face taking on a rare expression of seriousness. She unconsciously brought her wand to her mouth and chewed on it absentmindedly. Well this was an… interesting situation to say the least. Her best friend and ex-boyfriend accidentally kissing and then totally having some kind of romantic tension. The idea of the two getting together was definitely strange (Her ex-bf with her bestie? _What is even going on anymore?_ ) but at the same time, she approved of it?

Marco needed somebody to get him out of his shell. Sure, Star did a great job of that, but there was only so much she could do. Tom could help Marco with getting more confident in ways Star would never think to do. And Tom… Marco would be good for him. Marco was good at emotions. He always was and would likely always be good with them. Tom definitely needed someone who could be patient and work with him through his moods. Marco was patient enough with people, especially if it had something to do with psychology.

All in all, the pairing was oddly well-matched.

That didn't mean either of them would be inclined to do anything with the potential there. The sparks would remain there as they were and slowly fade into a dull ash. Star grinned as her eyes lit up, a plan already forming in her head.

It was true that their spark may take a long time to be struck if it ever was.

Unless there was a catalyst involved.

Star giggled, mentally patting herself on the back for actually paying attention in class and remembering something. She skipped towards the door, intent on finding Marco. When she found him hiding behind the couch with a bucket on his head and a pillow tied around his stomach with a rope, Star shrieked in joy and grabbed Marco. She hugged him tightly and began twirling around with him, only stopping when his face took on that distinct green only Marco's face could make.

"Marco! Guess who just called to tell me about this _totally awesome_ party going in another dimension?" Before Marco could reply, Star rushed along. "C'mon, Safety Kid! Pony Head said it was going to be the absolute best, and I know you've been over studying recently!"

Marco bit his lip nervously. He was obviously still thinking of what occurred only minutes ago, evident in the way he was watching the backdoor as though it would burst into flames at any moment. Which, admittedly, wasn't that unlikely considering who Marco imagined setting said door aflame. And although Pony Head wasn't his favorite person ever, he had to admit she _was_ pretty cool (not that he would ever tell her that.) And a little fun once in awhile couldn't be _that_ bad, could it? Marco went over the pros and cons before shrugging and smiling at Star.

"Sure. Why not? Just let me go tell Mom and Dad not to wait up for me."

As Marco walked towards the other room, Star squealed excitedly and jumped up and down. She popped open her tiny, handheld mirror and for the first time in forever called a certain somebody.

"Tom? So, how would you feel about partying it up later tonight?"

Tom, of course, replied back that he would be there. The two exchanged details of time and place, and all was set.

"Alright, Star! I'm ready to go!"

Star grinned excitedly and held out a hand for Marco to take. Tonight was going to be an interesting night no matter what happened.

* * *

About five minutes into arriving at the party, Marco had already lost sight of Star. He mentally recorded it as the longest time it took until one of them got lost, somewhat proud he had managed to stick to her that long. Brown eyes searched through the crowds of people, searching for Star's bright hair and even brighter personality. Hopefully she had noticed they had been separated and was now looking for him, but Marco knew better than to believe that wholeheartedly.

The party really was as great as Star had said it would be. There were all kinds of people there, differing in colors, sizes, and even how many body parts they had. Bright balloons floated around the room and were filled with some kind of substance probably only local to this dimension. Marco was almost tempted to catch one and study its insides, but the memory of what happened last time Marco was curious about something strange stopped him. He shuddered. Never again would he look at screwdrivers the same way. But in Marco's opinion, the most beautiful part of the party had to be the sky. He didn't know whether it was enchanted to show the sun and moon at the same time or if it was simply how the planet itself worked, but it worked beautifully with each other. Marco caught his eyes straying to look at the two combating orbs in the sky several times in his search for Star.

"Marco?"

Marco turned towards the voice, smile on his face.

"Star! There you are! Don't leave me on my own agai-"

Marco froze as the smile on his face lost its cheerfulness and began to take on a more frightened quality. Instead of Star, Tom was staring at him. No, wait, he wasn't staring at Marco per se but instead at the bright red flower pin that Star had clipped into his hair before they left. Marco's cheeks felt like they were on fire as he hesitantly picked at the pin.

"I-It's not what you think! Star just put this on my hair when I wasn't paying attention and-" Marco jerked back slightly, realizing how Tom could have taken his words. "It was totally platonic though, I swear! No romance going on here!"

Tom continued to stare at Marco. Despite the loud music that pounded loudly around them, it felt like they were the only two there from how intently Tom was staring at Marco. Marco chewed on his lip and absentmindedly wondered if demons could look into your soul with a single glance. Finally, Tom blinked, and it felt like somebody had cut the strings holding Marco upright. Tom walked closer towards Marco with a growing look of curiosity on his face.

"Its funny… Star told me something rather interesting about that hair pin."

Tom reached towards Marco, making the boy flinch automatically. Instead of going for Marco's neck, Tom softly fondled the pin with a look of bittersweetness in his eyes.

"You see, she told me that my date would be wearing a pin just like this."

Tom's eyes drifted down from the pin until he met marco's warm, brown eyes.

"And while I can't say I'm not surprised at who it is, I'm beginning to wonder if I really even mind that."

Marco bit his lip before opening his mouth to reply, but a sudden brightness stopped him. Marco blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sudden burst of light. After most of the blurry dots in his vision had cleared, Marco was able to look around and notice that the light was only touching Tom and himself. A booming voice that was aided by a microphone caught their attention.

"And look at this lovely couple! What a sight, am I right, ladies and gentlemen?"

There was a roar of approval from the crowd, causing Marco's cheeks to blush a bright red. Marco swore he could make out the faintest speckling of red on Tom's cheeks as well.

"I think they should give us a kiss! What do you all think?"

The audience yelled in delight once more. Marco looked at Tom with wide eyes, half anxious and half curious to see if the other would play along. When he saw Tom giving him the same look, Marco smiled softly. He leaned up on his tiptoes and gave Tom a peck on the cheek. Almost immediately, the crowd surrounding them lost any sense of order and devolved into only cheering more loudly than the person next to them. Marco pulled back and only had a few seconds to look at Tom before he was roughly pulled away. A pale arm that led to a familiar person with a bright smile was pulling him along. Marco gave Tom one last look before he too began to run with Star, the two easily slipping into Marco's home world via Interdimensional Scissors.

* * *

Marco shouldn't have expected Tom standing at his front door a week later with a flaming rose in hand. And yet, somehow that wasn't the first thing to come from his mouth.

"What took you so long?"

Tom grinned and held out the rose.

"It just took me a while to find a flower that was as stunning as you."

Marco snorted, freezing when he realized how it might have been taken by Tom. When he saw the other fighting down chuckles as well, Marco let out the laugh building in his chest.

"You absolutely cheesy nerd."

They stared at each other before doubling over and laughing loudly. When the two heard Star talking excitedly in the background to Ludo, they once again fell prey to laughter.

Who knew Stars were such great catalysts?


End file.
